A Friendly Encounter
by pinkjeep
Summary: What I imagine happened between Nakazato and Shingo after Shingo battles Takumi in the manga. I really suck at titles. One shot.


Nakazato Takeshi was worried. He hadn't seen Shingo at the Night Kids meetings these past couple days, and that could only mean trouble. Especially since he had last seen Shingo, that blockhead had been talking about challenging the Akina 86 to a battle and winning. Which was, Takeshi now knew after battling the 86 himself, impossible, but Shingo never had listened. With a deep sigh he dropped the cigarette he had been mindlessly inhaling and ground it out with his shoe. It was time to play hide and seek. Well, for Takeshi it was only the "seek" part, since Shingo was already hiding.

He rolled down the familiar streets in his black Skyline, mildly surprised that he remembered how to get to his teammate's apartment. He hadn't made this trip often. No reason to, seeing as how he and his teammate didn't get along well. As he braked to a neat stop, his stomach dropped. The red Civic wasn't in the driveway. This could mean either of two things: Shingo wasn't here, or the car was in the shop. He hoped fervently that it was the former.

The doorbell lit up under his index finger as he pressed it determinedly. In a few seconds he could hear shuffling behind the door, and then the door slowly opened to reveal a haggard face.

"Takeshi." The voice was low, quiet.

"Shingo." He cut to the chase. "Where's your car?"

Shingo leaned on the doorjamb. "In the shop."

"What's wrong?" The question came out harsh.

"What, you haven't heard?"

"I have an idea, but I'd rather you didn't confirm it."

"Well, it'll come out sooner or later." He closed his eyes for a bit before opening them back up and focusing on his leader. "I challenged the Akina 86 to a race, as you know I've wanted to do."

Takeshi's voice was hushed. "Not the gum tape death match."

Shingo nodded. "I'm afraid so."

"And what happened?"

"Well, it was off to a good start. At the first corner it seemed like he was about to crash into the guard rail."

"A good start?!" interrupted Takeshi.

"But somehow he recovered. And then he got the concept of driving with his right hand stuck to the steering wheel. So, I tapped him a little on the rear."

"Shingo! Do you want to end up in the state penitentiary?"

"Will you calm down?" came the irritated reply.

"You could have sent him over the mountain edge! I'm disgusted with you."

"Don't worry, because he managed to perform a 360 and continue driving like nothing happened. And then he passed me."

"Well?" demanded Takeshi when Shingo continued to be silent. "I know it didn't end there, or your car would be here."

"I wanted to bump him again," said Shingo quietly, "But he performed a drift right before I did so, and I ended up hitting the guard rail."

Takeshi was quiet. He was filled with rage, but also had some empathy for his teammate. "How bad is it?" he asked.

Shingo shrugged. "Not too bad. Mostly scratches."

"You don't harbor any ideas of taking over the Night Kids, do you?"

Shingo lifted his head and Nakazato saw a small smile. "Not now, but you better watch your back, Takeshi. Because soon I will become better than you and I'll demand that right."

Nakazato scoffed. "That won't happen. Besides, I'm of a mind to kick you off the team for you stupid stunt. You give the rest of us a bad name."

Shingo reached into his pocket for a cigarette and lit it, taking an intoxicating breath. He dropped the present subject and reverted back to the old. "You were right. That 86 punk is one heck of a driver," he said, blowing a stream of smoke into Takeshi's face.

Nakazato frowned, fanning the smoke away. "Yeah."

"Listen, you better leave before someone recognizes your car and thinks we're buddies or something."

"Don't worry. I have no plans to be talked about with you in the same sentence." He turned around and started to walk back to his car.

"It'd do your reputation good!" Shingo called after him.

Nakazato resisted the urge to show Shingo a fancy hand gesture.

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I took a break from writing my Keisuke story. It's not going so good. I can't think of a good reason for an arranged marriage. The whole thing is rather comical and it jumps from one scene to the next. I might just give up and not finish it.


End file.
